


Still Alive

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Dreams and Nightmares, Gen, Memories, Pride, Tragedy/Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 04:05:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10959282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Iroh thinks about the past, Zuko, and Lu Ten.





	Still Alive

War cries, screaming, blood-- that’s all you can see on a battlefield. There’s so much of it. It seeps into the ground and mixes into everything. Bloody earth is being thrown, a stone of it flies past Iroh’s ear, but he dodges it with ease. The air is hot, fire is thrown in the direction of a Earthbender, he falls, and Iroh almost feels bad about it.

Of course he feels for these people. They have families, just like he has a family. They have people they care about, and he’s just mowing them down, like weeds sticking out of the ground.

He thinks about what it would be like to lose Lu Ten. It pains him, so he stops thinking. He stops his thoughts from going there. Lu Ten is a smart young man. He’s resourceful. Iroh trusts him. He will survive, they’ll see each other after this siege, they will be happy. He knows it.

But thoughts of doubt rush his mind. Iroh is worried about his son. Lu Ten had been so confident, he claims that he’s ready. Iroh is not so sure.

Why had he allowed Lu Ten to go into battle? Being a General takes away his focus. 600 days have almost passed since the beginning. It makes him feel very far from their bond. It hasn’t faded, but he still feels like he’s disconnected somehow.

Iroh shoots more fire in the directions of Earthbenders. They all fall and he feels a small twinge of guilt. This is for his country, he thinks. This is to protect his son.

But is it really? Can he really use this battle as an excuse to protect Lu Ten? He’s fighting in this battle. That undermines the thought of safety. It plagues Iroh’s mind with more thoughts of worry. 

The battle is more for honor. More for the satisfaction of his father, rather than to protect his son. But he uses it. He uses Lu Ten to give himself strength. They’ll succeed. They’ll win this and he will retire. Lu Ten will stay with him. They’ll be happy. Maybe they will finally have a little bit of peace. 

At least, this is what Iroh believes, wants to believe, but it seems the spirits believe otherwise, because when Iroh returns to his tent after the battle ends, his heart breaks. Lu Ten is gone.

It’s all his fault.

...

When Iroh wakes, he finds that he’s crying. Dreams of battle and his son are common, but this time it’s different. He has a longing to see Lu Ten, which is not uncommon either, but it’s very intense right now. He wants his son desperately. But he knows, realistically, that he will never see him again. It breaks his heart. Sometimes he thinks that hurt will overtake him.

It doesn’t however, because, as he sits and thinks, and cries, a very familiar sound penetrates his ears.

Snoring. It’s a noise as common as his thoughts of Lu Ten, and one that he has to admit to committing himself. The absurd noise seems to be a family trait, as it is something he had heard from all parts of the royal family members.

The noise is outrageous, and surprising, Iroh admits, when it comes from someone like Zuko. Most would not expect a noise like that to come from a Prince, but it does, and Iroh finds it entertaining.

He listens to Zuko’s snoring for a while, and distracts himself with it. Moments like this reminds him of the time after Zuko was banished. He had spent a lot of time with him then, watching over as he slept. It was familiar, and after a while Iroh strangely found it comforting. It reminds Iroh of how alive Zuko is, and that, even in sleep, he is not quiet. His fire is not smothered. He is still very much alive.

Zuko was his saving grace, and while he missed his son more than anyone even knew, he also was grateful for the second chance at being a father again. He was not going to mess this up. He would not lose another son. 

And he doesn’t. Zuko succeeds, and he could not be more proud.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a quick idea I came up with when reading some other fan fiction. I honestly have no idea how it came out. It was edited, but very quickly. Hope you like it. Let me know how I did! (These notes sound like something off FanFiction.net lol.)


End file.
